The Time Keeper
by warmachinerox
Summary: This is just something I came up with because the original story always felt a little incomplete to me. In the wake of watching her best friend get shot one final time in order to save Arcadia Bay, Max stumbles upon one more chance to alter the course of time and save someone she couldn't bear to lose.
1. Chapter 1

After two hours of nothing but sorrow and sadness, Max couldn't take it anymore and collapsed on a rain-soaked bench; she buried her face in her hands. All she could think about was the sound of the gunshot and its deafening reverb in the bathroom ringing inside her head, and the image of her best friend collapsing to the ground. Sure, she had known the girl since forever, but maybe the blow wouldn't have been so hard if they didn't just spend the last week together for the first time in how long. Did they really spend the last week together? Did everything really happen in the first place? Why didn't she just tear up that butterfly picture and let Arcadia Bay go to hell? It wasn't worth much more anyway.

"Max?" she heard. She didn't look up until she felt the hand touch her shoulder.

"Hey, Kate," she responded, struggling to get the words out.

"I'm sorry about your friend,"

"Thanks," Max said, "You didn't have to come today; I know you didn't know her."

"I know, but I wish I could have. If she was anything like you then I know she was a good person. Besides, you have always been there for me…even through…well…you know. I thought it was only right that I do the same."

"You're so sweet, Kate, I'll never understand how anyone could bully you." Max turned her gaze back to the ground.

"You look like you want to be alone right now; so I'll leave you be. My door is always open if you want to talk."

No sooner than Kate had walked away from Max and her bench was she approached by Joyce and David. Not she wanted to ignore them and continue wallowing in sadness, but she still didn't feel like talking to either of them.

"Thank you for coming today Max," Joyce said, "I wouldn't blame you if you didn't."

"I can't imagine how you feel after what you've just experienced," David added.

"What I would have given for you two to have had just a few days together…" Joyce continued.

"It's weird," Max said, "I know we didn't see each other before it…happened. But for some reason it feels like we've been together a whole week."

"Tragedy can sometimes bring memories to us," David remarked. Although it was a simple thought, it seemed strangely poetic coming from him. And speaking of memories, Max noticed something she had seen several times before: a vaguely translucent doe trotting around in front of the tree line of the forest. While she had followed it before, she never really understood what it was or why it was there.

"Max? Are you okay?" Joyce said.

"What? Oh…yeah," Max regained her focus, "Can you just…I—I need a minute," She returned her attention to the doe as it pranced into the forest and took off after it.

"Max!" Joyce raised her voice.

"It's okay," David said, "Just give the girl some space."

Max reached the forest and struggled to keep her eyes on the ever moving animal. _I am going to learn your secret_ , she thought, _I thought this was over, but all of this started with you_. Max chased and chased as the deer gradually escaped her line of sight. _Where is it?_ _Where are you?_ Max reached a clearing in the woods and realized there was no way of tracking the animal any further. _No, no, no…_ "WHERE ARE YOU!" she yelled to the trees, "WHAT ARE YOU!" of course she received no answer. She felt her eyes well up with tears once again and, holding nothing back, threw hear head back and screamed to the sky with all her power and voice. She dropped to her knees in the wet grass and mud and pounded her fists in the puddles having lost any hope of finding answers.

"What the hell are you crying for?" someone said behind her. Max looked up and spun around to see a girl standing in the clearing. She had the same sort of ethereal appearance that the doe had, and she looked familiar, like Max knew her, but couldn't place a name.

"You're that deer, aren't you," Max said to the girl.

"What deer?" the girl asked, turning her back to Max, "All I see are a bunch of trees, and a girl bawling her eyes out like she just lost her best friend."

"Like you care…clearly," Max replied. She had no doubt that this girl was somehow connected to the deer. There was also no doubt this girl certainly aware of the inner turmoil Max was feeling at that moment.

"I don't. But if it's any consolation; you made the right choice."

"What choice was that?"

"Sacrificing your friend for the greater good."

"Really? It sure doesn't feel like the right choice." Max explained, "I tried everything to save her and the only think I could do was fail."

"Perhaps."

"Excuse me?"

"Sometimes destiny dictates that we fail," the girl explained. "Or maybe the reason you failed was because you were trying to save the wrong person."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

The girl turned to face Max again, "Are you just going to pretend, to me, like a week's worth of time-fucking just escaped your memory?" she took a step closer to Max and her face began to look more familiar.

"Rachel?" Max mumbled to herself as she attempted to match the girl's face with the "MISSING" posters she had seen all over the town. "You're Rachel Amber, aren't you?" she asked formally, raising her voice to be heard.

"I'm sorry," the girl said, "I'm not."

"But you want me to save her, right?" Max asked, "You say I tried to save the wrong person; is Rachel the one I'm supposed to save?"

The girl said nothing, but her intense stare was more than enough to confirm Max's assumption.

"What's done is done," Max explained, "Even if I wanted to save her, how would I go about it?"

"You tell me, Maxine Caulfield. You're the time keeper." The girl turned around again and began walking toward the dense line of trees.

"Wait!" Max yelled after her, "If you're not Rachel, then who are you?"

"I'm nobody, Max, just a figment of your imagination." She said before disappearing into the trees.


	2. Chapter 2

The entire week that passed seemed more like seven months than seven days. Max refused to go to any classes and locked herself in her dorm, constantly hopping between grief and frustration as she struggled to cope with the weight of her decisions and find a way to save Rachel and maybe Chloe in the process. The real struggle was finding the solution to the problem without the fear of what might result: going back in time through pictures is how she screwed up timelines so bad before, but it was the only way for this new rescue mission to work. The only problem was that there were no good photos to use. None of the missing person posters with Rachel's picture on them were working, and if she went too far back in time from a random photo then she would have to live out all that time over again until the moment came to make things right. Max heard her phone buzz on the nightstand. A message popped up from Joyce. She had been sending texts to Max for nearly a week that went unread, but this time Max felt that she should at least acknowledge it this time.

 _Hey Max. I understand if you don't want to talk; but if you're feeling up to it stop by the diner. I have something for you._ Max didn't reply, but she felt obligated to see Joyce again; if only out of curiosity for what she had to give her.

Max took the bus down to the diner, consciously avoiding eye contact or conversation with anyone. For lunchtime on a Friday, the diner seemed very empty and unlively. She didn't see Joyce anywhere at first, so she sat in her usual booth with her head down and just waited. Several minutes passed before Joyce came stumbling out of the kitchen with a plate and a glass in hand. She arrived at Max's table and set both down in front of her.

"Hey Max," she said quietly, "It's on the house if you're hungry."

"Thanks, Joyce," Max replied.

Joyce reached into a pocket in her apron and pulled out a small book, clutching it tight. "I wanted you to have this, Max," she said, "After you left, Chloe started to change. She seemed to have a lot more secrets in her life; no doubt written in here." She set the book on the table and wiped a tear from each eye. "This is her journal. I couldn't bring myself to read it; but I know she would have wanted you to have it." She stepped away from the table and continued to take orders from the few customers that were left waiting.

Max pulled the book closer to her, swapping it with the plate of pancakes, and opened the cover. _Property of Chloe Price_ , it said. She began flipping through the pages that were full of are and written passages describing the grief she felt after William had died. _God, she took it so hard,_ Max thought, _not that I blame her. I just wish I could have been there_. She flipped through a few more pages that contained photos of various people, including Max, and she read some very colorful passages about some people she clearly didn't like, and some more insightful passages about people that might have been considered friends, if that was even in Chloe's vocabulary after all turmoil she experienced. _Wow…she really did think I abandoned her._ A few more pages later, she came to a few pages about Rachel. _Judging by this, I can't believe they even got along. They met at a Firewalk concert? Definitely not my kind of music, but…sure doesn't seem like it would have been Rachel's either._ She finally came to a page that had a photo of Rachel and Chloe. They both looked so happy. She took a moment to consider the possibility of using the photo to time travel with. When she realized that the picture was distorting the way others did when she focused on it, she immediately felt a sense of hope. She pulled the picture out of the diary and approached Joyce at the cash register.

"How are you doing, Max?" she asked.

"I'm okay," Max replied. She held the photo over the counter for Joyce to look at, "This might be a strange question, but do you happen to know how old this picture is?"

"I remember this picture," Joyce reminisced, "I took it after my shift one night when they were both here. Rachel was probably the only friend Chloe had after you left; at least, the only friend I am aware of. I don't remember exactly when that was, but I think this was only a day or two before she disappeared. The police were looking into it for a few months, but with no evidence or leads, it just became a sort of cold case. Why do you ask?"

"No reason in particular," Max said, avoiding having to explain the situation she was in, "It's just nice to know that Chloe had someone else looking out for her." She turned to look back at the food she left on the table, "I appreciate pancakes, Joyce, but I'm just not feeling it today."

"It's okay, Max, thanks for stopping by."

Max returned to the table to grab Chloe's diary and exited the restaurant to catch the next bus to Blackwell. When she arrived, she headed straight for her dorm and shut herself in while she contemplated what her current situation would be if she were to use the photo to time travel: _She was still in Seattle when Rachel disappeared; how would she get there? Would Chloe or Rachel of that time even believe her if she just showed up and told them Rachel was in danger? Would her rewind power even work anymore once she was there?_ She continued to judge her situation when she was interrupted by a knock on the door.

"Max, are you there? It's me," she heard Kate's muffled voice through the dorm door.

"It's open, Kate."

Kate pushed the door open and slowly stepped over to Max's bed where she sat down next to her. "I just came to see how you were doing," she said, "You haven't been to any of your classes lately."

"I know, Kate…I just…"

"I understand. You seem like you are lost in thought; am I interrupting something."

"No." Max said definitively. "Actually, as long as you're here, can I ask you something?"

"Of course. Anything."

"Rachel Amber was a friend of Chloe," Max explained, "Apparently they grew pretty close while I was still away in Seattle. Did you know her at all, or know anything about her?"

Kate's head tilted down toward the floor as if she attempted to recall any information she could think of. "I never formally met her," Kate said. "I know that she was a straight-A student and that one day she just stopped going to classes. I've heard different explanations from different people. The most common are that she dropped out or was expelled for dealing drugs. Neither reason makes sense to me, but like I said, I never knew her personally. Her missing person fliers are posted everywhere though."

"I've noticed."

"Before I forget, there's something else," Kate continued.

Max saw her perk up a little bit through her apparent recollection before shamefully turning away from her, "It's okay, Kate, you can tell me."

"I don't remember much about the Vortex Club party the other day…not that I need or want to; I think Victoria showed the world all it needed to see. But I remember seeing her there that night."

"Wait, what!?" Max exclaimed, "She was completely off the grid for six months and she just showed up at a Vortex Club party. But—but she was killed, we found her body and—" Max stopped dead in her words when she realized what she was saying in front of the one person that could have flipped out over that information. She tried to rewind the last few seconds that passed as she had been doing for what seemed like forever, but she had no luck.

"I thought you said you didn't know who she was," Kate said, "You found a body… _her_ body? What?" Kate was understandably flustered and looked as though she was about to run away in fear. Realizing what she had just done, Max found herself with no other choice but to tell Kate the entire truth.

Max sighed and took one deep breath, "Kate, I need to tell you something…" she said. The words came out faster than she anticipated. Kate did not say anything back, but her expression was enough to tell Max that she was listening. "I know you are going to have a hard time believing me, but I swear that I am telling you the truth and I swear I am not crazy."

"I don't think you're crazy, Max," Kate reassured her.

"Not yet, you don't. For about the past week, or more…technically, I've had this weird power where I can rewind time." Kate opened her mouth with clear intent to speak, but Max cut her off before she could say anything. "I saw Chloe get shot in the bathroom and…and I realized I could stop it from happening, so I did. And when we reunited after five years of separation, we made an attempt to find out what happened to Rachel Amber. I started to get more familiar with my ability and I discovered I could go back in time using pictures and I—I—I started fucking up multiple timelines and events and we eventually found out that Nathan and Mr. Jefferson were both involved in the disappearances of other students and that they drugged Rachel and-and killed her and—and Chloe too and th-the only way to set everything right was to go back to the moment Chloe got shot and just…" Max broke into tears, unable to say anything more. Kate wrapped her arm around Max and pulled her head to her shoulder while she continued letting her emotional dam burst.

"It's okay, Max, I don't think you're."

"You don't?"

"I admit: while it is a little hard to believe, I don't think you would make up something like that."

"Thank you," Max said, wiping some tears from her face, "You're a really good friend."

"So are you, Max." She gave Max a gentle pat on the shoulder and stood up, "I'll give you some space; I have to get to class." She closed the door behind her and left Max alone to try figuring out her next plan of action.

Max turned back to the diary and the photo of Chloe and Rachel. _She was at that Vortex Club party on the 4_ _th_ _. She died sometime after that. If I can just go back ten days; that's all I need. I must have a photo from then._ She started rummaging through all the polaroids she had laying around and tried to find one that was as close to the day as she could. If she was able to save Rachel _and_ Chloe from the fates they didn't deserve, it was only likely that she could also help Kate on that night as well. She picked through a string of photos until she found one that would work for her. _I know I took this picture on the 4_ _th_ _; I considered giving it to Jefferson that day and I chose not to. It will have to work._ She set the picture on her desk and focused on it. The image began to distort and she felt her stomach drop, almost as if she was falling through the frame.

When fully blurred image came back into focus, she was holding the camera used to take the picture and sitting on a bench in the courtyard near the dorms. _It worked_. She put her camera in her bag and took out her phone to confirm the time and date. _6:38. The party is at 10 and I need to convince Chloe of what's going down ASAP._

"Hey Max!" Victoria said in a condescending voice while strutting by her along with Nathan and Taylor. "Have fun not coming to the party tonight. It's a shame you never get an invite."

"Fuck off, Victoria," Max yelled.

"Ooh. _Meow_ ," Taylor followed, "You better be careful Victoria; Kitty might bring her claws out."

Max just walked away and ignored them. _Bitches._ She scrolled to Chloe's name in her phone and selected the call option. The phone rang several times before reaching a voicemail. "Really, Chloe?" She tried again and the phone continued to ring until voicemail. "Dammit!" she expressed louder. She tried one final time to reach Chloe by phone. Finally, after multiple rings, Chloe answered.

" _What do you want, Max?"_ she yelled through the phone.

"Chloe, we really need to talk."

" _Oh, now you want to talk. After five years, and you only want to talk now!?_ "

"Chloe, this is not the time to be a bitch."

" _Yeah, whatever—_ "

"Just listen to me, Chloe; Rachel is in danger but the two of us can save her."

" _I'm supposed to just believe—wait—how do you know who Rachel is?_ "

"Do I have your attention now?" Max inquired.

Chloe gave no answer, but she was clearly listening.

"I owe you a huge explanation and a huge apology. Meet me at the Two Whales and we can talk."

" _Fine. But Rachel's been missing for several months so if you have any info…_ "

"I'll explain when I see you alright."

" _Whatever_ ," Chloe hung up on her end and Max proceeded to catch the bus into town.


End file.
